Friday, April 8, 2011

PiercingtheVeilofCreation

I wanted to switch gears this week and expound (with perhaps a dash of digression) on the topic of originality, which Ben Van Dyke brought up Thursday. I liked what he said about the topic, but I wanted to just dribble off a few nuggets of mine own the subject.

This is something I have considered much, especially in the past few years. I liked that he touched on the topic, but I wanted to add my thoughts to the matter in a bit more detail. Somewhere in the distant past, my past that is, I got the notion into my head that everything I saw was original (I know, kinda adds a new level of naïveté to the definition of the word). I have come to understand what utter horse…manure that is. I won’t say nothing is original, but I have come to be suspicious of anything being original or any artist claiming their work is the same (I should probably append this point to say it involves commercial more than fine art because that is where my interest generally lies).

Back to the point on hand, what I see is some people omitting to mention the degree to which they have taken one or more sources and culled ideas from those sources to create their work. I think this is often done to propagate some type of mystique around the creation of their art. I realize there are other reasons, but I don’t want to drag this post out to 700 words or more. What I will say is that I am indebted to the artist who allows us to peek around the veil of creation and draw inspiration if not from their work, then from knowledge of their processes. I know I gain a great deal of inspiration and validation in knowing that even the best of creators take from sources that once revealed appears obvious. I am also happy for the fact that this sharing of one’s processes is growing, thanks to the Internet.

I found this series on youtube offering a look into various artists moleskins. While not necessarily showing a specific project in progress, it nevertheless ( or more) gives a look at the rough stuff. There are many others in the playlist so have a look around.

16 comments:

I remember Mark showing this in one of his classes, and the hand drawn forms are very creative. I came across an artist named, Ryan Mulligan and he shared his view of originality, which I thought was interesting. Here is the website...http://thinkingaboutart.blogs.com/art/2004/10/ryan_mulligan_o.html

Jess: I know, right? Some amazing stuff. I am trying now to get into scribbling into a small sketchpad. Nothing finished or great, just getting the stuff in my head out onto the paper. This vid was definitely inspiring on that point.

I also love when artists that I admire show the process of how their work got to where it was. It almost makes them seem more human to me. I realize that may make me sounds a little idealistic about designers, but there are some whom I really admire that I sometimes forget that they are normal people too who go through the same creative process that everyone else does and it's always nice to see short videos pictures of the different stages they went through.

"I am indebted to the artist who allows us to peek around the veil of creation and draw inspiration if not from their work, then from knowledge of their processes."

I definitely relate to this statement. Watching someone work from start to finish can really spike my learning curve. The value of copying work to master a new skill is often underplayed, but when the technical aspect of a creative process and be broken down to its building blocks, it can open up a lot of new possibilities.

Hahaha, even before I read your name at the bottom of this posting I knew it was yours Tony. I'm glad you're starting to focus on answering this question for yourself since it seems like it sparks some real emotion inside of you when you are actually ASKED these types of questions. Personally I think that the idea of originality if a funny one. Take for example a the following situation-- What if a person was never exposed to cubism. I mean like not at all--no concept of it. And then that person starts to draw fragmented pictures. These fragmented pictures began to take form as images similar to cubism. But that man has never been exposed to cubism, so even though cubism existed before him, the concept is still completely original and new to him. Thus originality can be understood as being in the eye of the beholder in terms of what s/he has been exposed through in life.

"Back to the point on hand, what I see is some people omitting to mention the degree to which they have taken one or more sources and culled ideas from those sources to create their work. I think this is often done to propagate some type of mystique around the creation of their art. "

I agree that many artists hide/omit mentioning these inspirations, but I think in class we are encouraged and even forced to draw inspiration from other artists - yet we are expected to come up with something 'new' and 'original'. The point of looking at these other artists is not to have us 'copy' them, but it does ensure that what we do is not truly "original". But I don't think that this is a problem - it just means that we are forced to look around us and see how we can put ourselves into the same frame of mind of good designers and start doing work that is on par with theirs.

I think the whole point of going to school for design is to learn about what is going on around us. What's the point of just learning how to use InDesign and Illustrator and isolating ourselves in a little school bubble? We must constantly be looking for outside inspiration and learning what other designers are doing. Call it copying, inspiring, modifying, anything you want, but if we don't do it, we likely won't be truly 'original' anyway because there is simply a limited amount of things humans can do. We also have inspiration even without searching - everywhere we walk, drive, sit, stand, exist there are designs around us!

So...the point is:

I like looking behind artist inspiration also. But I think that it's important to understand that while you shouldn't simply take others' ideas, it is important to surround ourselves with inspiration. It doesn't always have to be discussed in a final piece, because sometimes it's just an idea, not a 'look' that comes out of the inspiration.

Basically seconding things that Sheri and Lauren have said about the value behind getting to see the process behind the art(ist). For me, it's really encouraging to see that I'm not alone in the trials and tribulations of creating something. It's one thing for an artist to say "I had a hell of a time trying to come up with this finished piece", and another thing to actually see things like the ideation sketches, or screenshots of the WIP, or things like that.

I commented earlier that I was also very intrigued by Van Dyke's idea about originality. It might be possible that even if the finished project doesn't seem original because it is our job to create work that isn't original (according to some) that what actually makes it original is our own personal process.

I agree with all who say seeing the creative process is helpful. It helps us relate with these design superstars on a human level. I feel like I'm always in awe of amazing design work, but I must remember that the designer could've gone through countless sketches and revisions before producing their brilliant final product.

This was pretty amazing! I know that as designers we immediately want to start designing at the computer as soon as an idea pops in our heads but taking the time to sketch out our ideas on paper is probably what is best to do before designing on the computer even though it may seem like extra work!

I also agree with everyone in that when I see other artists preliminary work and their process to how they got there, it makes me feel like everyone else struggles too. Sheri's post " there are some whom I really admire that I sometimes forget that they are normal people too who go through the same creative process that everyone else does". I have definitely felt like that a lot of times and seeing that inspires me.

This reminds me of the Luc Tuymans exhibit that was at the MCA this past fall, if anybody got a chance to check it out,

the exhibit showcased an abundance of photographs, polaroids and other inspirational material that Tuymans used to create many series of paintings. This was the first time that I have ever been to an exhibit where the artist included process work and inspirational materials that aided in the overall creation of the main product, which were the paintings. I really love to see other artists process work and the way we go about the creation process can be very inspirational.

first, I love moleskins. second, I think that seeing all forms of the design process, from their desks to notebooks helps us realize, like nina said, we are only human. But, more so I like to see how other's minds flow, how they jump from one conclusion to the next. third, I found a great grid sketch book for designers, made by chronicle books, it has everything from paper sizing, pica measurements, and keystrokes on a mac in the back- I highly suggest picking one up at Blick! http://www.amazon.com/Designers-Notebook-Andrew-Schapiro/dp/0811872343

Some of those sketches are amazing I love fonts. I'm definitely a doodler especially in the margins of my note books. Most of it is unfinished and will never be more than a doodle but the few things that become more I'm happy I took time to start them at the time they first appeared in my head.